Franz has coached a varsity sport every season since 1978, either tennis or basketball. He did get fired from Whippany Park, where he had a 40-67 record in the mid-1980s, because he wasn't coaching at the school.

His coaching career started with tennis at Piscataway in 1979. He has been at Morristown-Beard since 1983 and is in his 28th season as head coach.

He entered the season with 388 victories and 276 losses with the Crimson boys basketball team. He had coached hoops and tennis on and off for decades, switching briefly to officiating when his son was born, before returning for the 1994-95 season.

A year ago, Franz had left the Morris County Tournament seeding meeting early with flu-like symptoms. He had trouble catching his breath during a workout, and after a chest X-ray and CAT scan, "things changed." Franz, a nonsmoker, was diagnosed with a mass on his lung, which was later determined to be malignant.

He thought his coaching career was over. However, Franz's tumor has the treatable ROS1 mutation, and he's been part of a targeted therapy drug trial.

Morristown-Beard has rallied around Franz, as has Newark West Side coach Akbar Cook, a longtime friend who had his team wearing pink T-shirts in Franz's honor.

"I thought, 'Well, that's it. Even if I get treatment, I'm not going to be able to coach,'" said Franz, who takes just two pills every day at lunch. "I was out there again doing summer league and driving the bus, and worrying about the dumb stuff that happens as a basketball coach and not the other thing. For 90 minutes, I'm more worried about us making a free throw than cancer."

Franz had to be reminded when he got to 200 victories and 300 just passed with little fanfare. When Franz was inducted into the New Jersey State Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2013, his teams had 300 victories in basketball and 200 in tennis, and he had coached for 50 seasons.

The honor came after three losing seasons, and Franz thought it was a joke.

"You get a little humbled you lasted that long, because a lot of guys don't," he said. "I don't worry about the number. I just worry about the next game."